Lawmakers Push to End Military Transgender Ban

Unlike the ban on openly gay troops repealed in 2011, the policies that prohibit transgender people from joining the armed forces have historically attracted minimal, if any, interest on Capitol Hill.

Until now.

As several transgender service members have come out publicly in recent months, some lawmakers have begun to champion their cause and urge the Department of Defense to adopt new rules that allow transgender people to serve openly.

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat from California, is garnering support from colleagues to introduce a bill in coming weeks that would do away with the Pentagon’s anachronistic rules.

“The current ban has hurt our troops and damaged our national defense for too long,” Ms. Speier wrote in a letter her office is sharing with potential co-sponsors. “Many in uniform endure tremendous challenges and setbacks — emotional, financial and professional — because they are forced to serve in silence.”

Separately, Rep. Mike Honda, another Democrat from California, has been gathering signatures this week for a letter he intends to send to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter urging him to take swift action to establish policies that allow transgender troops to serve openly.

“I think we should start looking at this in a very mature way, set aside our old notions,” Mr. Honda said in an interview. “Does being transgender keep them from serving? No. It should be like any other soldier. Put them through basic training. They either make it or they don’t.”

Mr. Honda began speaking proudly early this year about his transgender granddaughter and has since become among the most vocal advocates for transgender rights in Congress. He said a couple of service members he ran into recently as he stepped off the elevator at work told him they were transgender and thanked him for giving the issue visibility.

“As policymakers, we have to lead by example,” he said. “Sometimes a teaching moment is more important than a bill.”

“Thousands of transgender troops are suffering needlessly,” wrote the two lawmakers, who are the ranking members of the personnel subcommittees of the House and Senate Armed Services committees.

The Pentagon’s policies were implemented decades ago, in an era during which transgender people were considered sexual deviants. Medical and military experts who have studied the rules in recent years have concluded that being transgender should not disqualify a person from serving and that those in uniform ought to be entitled to the same type of medical care available to civilians. Several close American allies have integrated transgender troops seamlessly in recent years.

The issue was not prominently discussed as the Senate and House marked up versions of next year’s defense bill in recent weeks. Ms. Speier introduced an amendment allowing transgender veterans who have left the service to easily amend their service records. It passed the House version of the bill without controversy.

Congressional staffers said in interviews that some lawmakers feel uneasy about allowing transgender personnel to serve openly. So far, though, they have refrained from weighing in publicly. That’s a good call.

Those who opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2011 warned that allowing gays to serve openly would lead to deaths in the battlefield, conflict in the barracks, transgressions in the showers and an erosion of unit cohesion.

Yet the repeal unfolded without a hitch. The naysayers’ predictions proved unfounded. Their statements from just a few years ago make them sound like troglodytes.

Any lawmaker tempted to publicly oppose allowing transgender troops to serve should carefully study the growing number of service members who have shared their stories publicly. Better yet, they should spend a day with one of them and then decide whether the policy on the books today, which labels them as perverts, makes any sense.

Video

Transgender, at War and in Love

This short documentary shares the challenges of a transgender military couple, who are banned from serving openly.

As they have come out, several transgender service members have been embraced by their leaders and peers. Staff Sgt. Patricia King, who has been in the Army for 16 years, last week became the first infantryman to reveal in a newspaper story that she is transgender.

“The response at work has been positive,” Sergeant King, who is based in Fort Carson, Co., said in an interview. “The personal notes have all been: We support you, we’re all for this and we’re proud of you for deciding to be yourself.”